Frost & Sullivan has announced its 2001 Marketing Engineering Awards recognizing companies that have positively impacted the U.S. wastewater treatment equipment industry. The Business Development Strategy Award goes to Aqua-Aerobic Systems, Inc. The Product Innovation Award is awarded to Parkson Corporation. The Competitive Strategy Award is given to PCI-Wedeco. The Merger & Acquisition Strategy Award goes to Severn Trent Services. And the Technology Leadership Award is awarded to Zenon Environmental.

Rising water costs and strict regulations are prompting the increasing demand for water reuse and recycling wastewater treatment equipment, according to Frost & Sullivan. The strategic market consulting firm states that the U.S. Wastewater Treatment Equipment Market generated revenues of $522 million in 2000. Frost & Sullivan projects that number to reach $756 million by 2007.

"Water recycling and reuse equipment treats wastewater to a level that is safe for industrial, agricultural, and residential uses, along with numerous other applications that can use non-potable or non-consumable water," says Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Linda Chaloux. "This means additional treatment must be applied to the dirty water."

Increasingly, end-users are realizing that reuse and recovery of wastewater is a way to save money, rather than a burden, and are trying to discover ways to redesign their facilities to accommodate these purposes. This realization is a result of rising wastewater surcharges, fines, and increasingly stringent regulations regarding effluent discharge properties.

"Municipalities are also seeing wastewater reuse and recycling as a new avenue for revenues, and are expanding their efforts in this area," says industry analyst Chaloux. "For example, if municipal facilities treat to the secondary level, the water can be sold for use in the surface irrigation of orchards and vineyards."

The demand for technologically advanced wastewater recycling equipment is generating sale opportunities for equipment manufacturers. New opportunities exist to increase revenues for those manufacturers that can provide energy-efficient, reduced-footprint equipment upgrades that both replace older equipment, but also bring the end-user into compliance with a long list of regulations that govern wastewater treatment.

"Energy costs are becoming one of the most prohibitive issues of running a treatment plant," says Chaloux. "Those technologies which tout an efficiency greater than the equipment previously used will be given consideration. The challenge for most manufacturers lies in the research and development areas. Studies must be specifically designed to address the concerns of end users."

Frost & Sullivan, with headquarters in San Jose, Calif., is a global leader in international strategic market consulting and training. Along with providing in-depth strategic market consulting analyses, Frost & Sullivan also provides custom consulting services to a variety of national and international companies.